Shaft aligning apparatus



July 31, 1945. o. w. PACKER SHAFT ALIGNING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 5. 1944 IHHI 9 jrzaarzia 7' flgaar fiflaeker Patented July 3 1 1945 SHAFT ALIGNING APPARATUS vOscar-W. Packer, Beading, Mala. assignorto The 8anborn Company, Cambridge, Mass, a corporation of Mauacllasetts Application February 5, 18, Serial No. 521,279

4 Claims. (Cl. 808-62) in many kinds of apparatus it is desirable to produce lateral adjustment or two aligned shafts or other rotors while keeping them in alignment. One such exampleis found in polar coordinate oscilloscopes of the type disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 519,249, flied January 21, 1944, where two shafts are interconnected by a train of gearing, one of the shafts being interconnected with an aligned motor'through a hexible coupling and the other shaft being interconnected with an aligned generator through a hexible coupling. In order to reduce back-lash to n nimum it is desirable to adjust the shafts of each pair of gears toward eachother. and at the some time it is necessary to keep said two shafts in gnment with the motor and generator rew 1'? such as a motor or generator casing, detochobly mounted on one face of the support, c

rotor carried by thecasing in axial alignment with the aforesaid shaft. a sleeve or other mountins unit for iournaling the shaft and 1: .mit with the rotor, the unit having cylindrical surtaces cooperating with the support, shaft end casing respectively, the surfaces cooperating with the shaft and casing being concentric with each other and the surface cooperating with the support being eccentric relatively to the other two surfaces, whereby rotation of the unit on the support shifts the shaft and casing laterally without altering the alignment oNzhe shaft with th rotor. In a more speciilc aspect the apparatus comprises a supporting wall having openings therethrough, in combination with shafts iournaled inin line with the respective openings, rotors in the.

casings connected with the shafts, gearing interconnected with the shafts on the other side of the wall, and mounting units for iournaling the shafts in the openings, each unit having cylindrlcal surfaces cooperating with the aforesaid wall and one of the shafts and one of the casings. the surfaces cooperating with the shaft and easing of each unit being concentric with each other and the surface cooperating with the wall bein whereby hack-lash between the intermeshing gears may be taken up successively, without c.1-

tering the alignment of the shefts with the surfaces cooperating with the casings, by successively rotating the storesaid units.

For the purpose of illustration a typicul embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. l is on end view of ports of on oscilloscope, corresponding to Fig. 5 of the ei'oresaid application;

Fig. 2 is n horizontal section through the ports shown in Fit. 1;

F1813 is c. section on line Zl-il of Fig. 2;

Fig. t is c section on line t-t of Fig. 3; end

. h is c section on line t-t of Fig. 3.

As more fully disclosed in the aforesaid applicntion the purticulor embodiment chosen for the of illustration comprises it costing ll corrying n train of goers t, t. l, t and t. The gears t to t inclusive ore mounted on shafts l, t and t respectively. Shaft l is interconnected with the rotor it of n motor it through a flexible coupling it end the shaft t is interconnected with the rotor it of ggenerstor it through c. flexible coupling it. The generator It is mounted on the casting l through the medium of a. cylindrical casing it, one end of the casing being open and the other end being closed with a wall il except for a circuler opening it coaxial with the cusing. The motor ii is similarly mounted on the casting l through the medium of a cylindrical casing It. The casings it and it are attached to the casting l by means of screws it extending through openings I! in the casings which are larger than the screws so as to aflord some lost motion when the screws are loosened.

Each of the shafts I, 8 and l is journaled in the casing l by means such as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. This means comprises a sleeve 2| extending through an opening in the casing l with a flange 22 seating on the outside of the casing. The outer periphery'of the sleeve is threaded andit is held in the opening by means of a nut 23. Threaded over the inner end of the sleeve 2| is a cap nut 24. A look nut It holds the cap nut 24 in place. The shaft 9 is journaled in the sleeve 2| through the medium of ball hearings 21 and 28 heldln spaced relation by sleeves 29 and II. The outer ring of the ball bearing fl seats againsta shoulder in sleeve 2| and is held in place by cap nut It. and the inner ring seats against a shoulder on the shaft- I. The parts. are held in position by a disc 12 and a nut 33 eccentric relatively'to the other-two threadedontheend ofthe shaft l. The disc I:

carries a part of the flexible coupling cooperating with a part carried by the rotor II. The end i! of the casing ll'silts snugly around the flange 2! of the sleeve it.

According to this invention the outer periphery ll of the flange 22, which engages the end opening in the casing I0, is concentric with the inner periphery 81 of the sleeve II, which supports the shaft I. but the cylindrical surface SI of the sleeve, which engages the casting I, is eccentric with respect to the surfaces It and 31. Thus, when screws l5 and nut II are loosened the sleeve may be rotated to shift the shaft I, casing it and generator ll laterally while maintaining them in axial alignment at all times.

with each of the three shafts 1, l and I journaled in like manner and with the casing I! M- ting over the end of the sleeve for shaft I in the same way that the casing it fits over the flange 22, the gears may be adjusted for minimum back lash in any desired order as for example by first adjusting shaft I to take up the back-lash between gears i and i, then tightening the screws ll of easing it and nut 28, then adjusting shaft I to take up the back-lash between gears s and 8, and finally adjusting shaft 1 to take up the back-lash between shafts I and I.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the character referred to comprising a support, a shaft journaled in the support, a rotor casing detachably mounted on one face of the support, a rotor carried by the casing in axial alignment with the'shaft, a mountins unit for journaling said shaft and aligning the rotor with the shaft, said unit having cylindrical surfaces interntting corresponding surfaces on said support, shaft and casing respectively. the surfaces interdtting with the shaft and easing being concentric with each other and the surface interiitting with the support being eccentric relatively to the other two surfaces, whereby rotation of the unit on the support shifts the shaft and easing laterally without altering the alignment of the shaft with the rotor.

2. Apparatus of the character referred to comprising a support having a cylindrical opening therein, a shaft extending through the opening. a rotor casing detachably mounted on one face vofthesupportthecasinghavingan'axialopening,arotorcarriedbythecasinginalignment with said axial opening. a sleeve for iournaling said shaft and aligning the rotor with the shaft. said sleeve having cylindrical surfaces cooperating with said shaft and openings respectively, the surfaces cooperating with said shaft and casing opening being concentric with each other and the surfaces cooperating with the support opening being eccentric relatively to the other two surfaces, whereby rotation of the sleeve on the support shifts the shaft and cabins laterally without altering the alignment of the shaft with the rotor.

3. Apparatus of the character referred to comprising a support having a' cylindrical opening, a shaft extending through the opening, a rotor casing having a base seating on one face of the support, the base having an'axial opening, a rotor carried by the casing in axial alignment with said axial opening, a mounting unit for journaling said shaft and aligning the rotor with the shaft. said unit having a surface fitting said cylindrical opening, said unit also having a cylindrical flange seating on said face and fitting said opening, the cylindrical surface of the flange being concentric with the shaft and the other cylindrical surface being eccentric to the shaft.

4. Apparatus of the character referred to comprising a supporting wall having openings therethrough, shafts journaled in the openings respectively, a plurality of rotor casings detachahly mounted on one face of the wall in line with said openings respectively. rotors in said casings connected with said shafts, gearing interconnecting said shafts on the other side of the wall, and mounting units for iournaling' said shafts in said openings, each unit having cylindrical surfaces interfitting corresponding surfaces on said wall and one of the shafts and one of said casings, the surfaces interfltting with the shaft and casing of eachunit being concentric with each other and the surface interfltting with the wall being eccentric relatively to the other two surfaces, whereby back-lash between the intermeshing gears may be taken up successively, without altering the alignment of the shafts with the surfaces interfltting with the casings, by

successively rotating said units.

OSCAR W. PACKER. 

